Stent grafts, including fenestrated, branched and bifurcated stent grafts, for the treatment of aortic and thoracoabdominal aneurysms and other related vascular diseases are well known. One of the major complications associated with surgical treatment of thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms using a stent graft is paraplegia. During surgical repair, the intercostal and/or lumbar arteries may be acutely occluded resulting in a loss of blood circulation to the spinal arteries and ultimately leading to paraplegia.
Some current stent grafts include a perfusion branch that is similar to branches used to connect bridging stents to the renal arteries. The perfusion branch perfuses the aneurysm sac and allows blood circulation to the spinal arteries during surgery. These perfusion branches require a separate procedure after implantation to seal the perfusion branch from the aneurysm with a vascular occluder and prevent blood flow to the aneurysm. To overcome this limitation, it would be advantageous to provide a self-closing perfusion branch that does not require a separate surgery to seal the perfusion branch from the aneurysm.